


The Journey Begins

by EmberwolfSasha



Series: My Hero Pokemania [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, First Meetings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-18 13:32:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12389079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberwolfSasha/pseuds/EmberwolfSasha
Summary: Midoriya Izuku has set up camp with his Pokemon and by all accounts it seems like a regular evening - complete with his dinner burnt and some team shenanigans - until a mismatched pair of frightened Vulpixes find their way into his camp. They're pretty keen on him following them but he's not sure what he'll find when he goes with them.





	1. An Inauspicious Start

**Author's Note:**

> This is really, really self indulgent. Like, really. I'm not sure yet if this will be a series or just a one-off but I've definitely got a few ideas floating around about this AU. Information on Izuku's current team will be in the end notes.

He was decidedly hopeless.

Izuku gave a resigned sigh as he watched the charred bits at the bottom of the small camping pot surface as he stirred what was supposed to be something called ‘pesto pasta.’ Maybe this is what his mother meant when he should bring along someone else on his journey. Or maybe she was just worried in general; it did tend to be safer to travel as a group.

Not that Izuku was alone by any stretch of the imagination. He glanced up as his Espeon made a purring _mrrpeon_ and leapt away from the young Riolu chasing after her. He was glad they were getting along. He hadn’t really planned on catching another pokemon just yet since he was still working on strategic usage of Mighty and Mandy’s abilities. Although catch might not have been the right word for finding an abandoned egg in a garbage heap and having it hatch abruptly while he had been trying to bring it to a Pokemon Center.

“ _Lu!_ ” The Riolu cried out and in a flash had Mandy’s forked tail in its paw. Mandy gave a shrill little sound but it was Mighty’s sharp screech that had Riot letting go quickly and backpedaling so fast he tripped over his own feet and fell onto his butt.

 _So much for getting along,_ Izuku thought ruefully as his Riolu began to cry. He quickly removed his rather disastrous dinner from the heat and rushed over to the upset pokemon. Mighty had given the crying youngster a weary look before proceeding to ignore him but Mandy drifted close, radiating concern even as she kept out of reach.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” the teenager cooed to the whimpering pokemon. He placed a gentle hand on the soft-furred head and tried his best to be reassuring as he continued, “you just frightened Mandy with that Quick Attack. We don’t really use moves on each other since we’re all friends which is why Mighty yelled at you.”

_I assume that was his equivalent of yelling – do pokemon even yell in the human sense? I should ask the professor – but it’s kind of hard to tell since if he’s not quiet he’s always kind of loud and really I wonder if that’s a Rufflet thing or a Mighty thing since I’ve never encountered another Rufflet before and-_

Izuku’s thoughts cut off abruptly as he felt a gentle flick against his wrist and heard the soft huffing sounds of laughter breaking through Riolu’s crying. Mandy was giving him a _look_ so it was undoubtedly her tail he had felt brush across his skin. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as a small blush rose in his cheeks. “Ah, sorry, I was doing it again, huh?”

Riot let out a soft snort and pressed into his hand with a smile so Izuku figured it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. His muttering or keeping Riot when the Riolu had been adamant about not leaving his side. Mighty chirped to get Izuku’s attention and began pecking pointedly at a can that he had wrestled out of Izuku’s pack. “Oh! Right, yes, food time!”

With a final pat to Riot’s head, the teenager rose and rushed over to grab the can and two more others like it while Mighty hopped back with a flutter of his wings to make room. Izuku moved back to where his unfortunate pasta was to find his multi-tool to open the cans of pokemon food for his companions. With less fumbling than previous attempts he got them opened and poured the kibble into separate little bowls for each of them. “Dinner!” 

The call turned out to be rather unnecessary as the three pokemon descended on the bowls with abandon before the second syllable was out of his mouth. Izuku turned back to his own food laughingly and forewent a bowl for himself. It wouldn’t make it taste any better out of the pot so he might as well save himself from doing more dishes than necessary. The bottom of the pot had cooled enough that he could hold it in his lap after he settled on the ground next to Mighty. He knew better than to try and ruffle his first pokemon’s downy feathers while he was eating but the proximity was comforting all the same.

It felt _nice_ to have company that liked him for who he was even if they couldn’t speak. Not human, anyway. Much like he had long thought communicating with pokemon was hardly impossible despite the language barrier since they had distinct mannerisms and repeated certain sounds in patterns that were beginning to be familiar to Izuku. He could feel Mighty’s sharp gaze on him and he smiled down hopefully at the bird pokemon, offering his fingers to see if he would be indulged. The rufflet let out a soft _whuff_ of air across his knuckles before slipping his head under Izuku’s hand. The smile turned megawatt bright as Izuku ran gentle fingers through the downy fluff before Mighty pulled away to eat more of his food.

Yes, much better company than Kacchan. Memory of his childhood friend alone was enough to make Izuku wince a little and he shoveled more burnt pasta into his mouth to distract himself. That only served to remind him that Kacchan could probably have made the pasta without burning it and his mom’s worried insistence that he should hurry and catch up to Kacchan so he wouldn’t be alone. He didn’t have to imagine too hard what travelling with Kacchan would have been like.

In his distractedness, Izuku missed the rustling of bushes that would have warned him that he was about to have company. Instead he ended up being blindsided by a red and white bundle slamming into his side. His little camp erupted into chaos then as Izuku let out a shrill shriek, his food going flying, and his pokemon leaping to the ready to defend their trainer from the danger.

The danger of a pair of…frightened vulpixes?

Izuku froze as he registered that the pair of pokemon were not, in fact, trying to attack him but were huddled into his side and positively shaking. “Wh-what? Uh, hold up, this- why are you-?” Absolutely befuddled and trying to regain his bearings, Izuku went to move only for a twin cry of “ _Vul! Pix!_ ” to freeze him again.

In hind sight Izuku supposed it was unsurprising that it was Mighty who took charge. A quick succession of chirps and whistles directed towards Mandy had the Espeon nodding and approaching the pair of vulpixes and her trainer while Mighty hopped over to the stunned Riolu so he could be ready to intervene in case Riot decided to do something silly.

Mandy approached the little trifecta with a calm air, head tilting just slightly as she got more of a sense of the two strangers. _“Pe. Peon,_ ” she coaxed gently, “ _Es. Esss._ ” Izuku watched amazed as her calmness seemed to catch a little in the furred creatures pressed into his side. The white one even managed to pull its face away from where it had been pressed to Izuku’s shirt. He let out a little gasp which drew its large eyes up to meet his.

“An Alolan Vulpix? But what would one be doing here and with Kanto Vulpix without a trainer? Unless it does have a trainer and has gotten separated which isn’t impossible and explains why it’s so friendly even though it’s scared – “

“ _Es!_ ”

“Oops. Um. Vulpix. Vulpixes? Hi, my name is Midoriya Izuku…um. You can’t tell me anything. Right. Do you guys have a trainer?”

The Alolan Vulpix blinked up at him, trembling minimized but not completely gone, before nudging its Kanto counterpart and yipping softly. They yipped back and forth for a few moments while Izuku’s party watched on before the white one shuffled a couple steps back and yipped.

“Ah, what?”

It stepped a few times on the spot before turning sharply and moving away, stopping once again to look over its shoulder at him. “Follow you?” He asked, brows scrunching forward in confusion as he tried to clarify what it wanted. A short yip before it moved a few more steps and paused again. “Right. Following you, then.”

The Kanto Vulpix let out a frightened sound when Izuku moved to get to his feet which made him feel guilty as he watched it catch up to the other Vulpix and practically plaster itself to its friend.

What had he gotten himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Izuku's team, as promised:
> 
> Mighty  
> Rufflet lvl 12  
> Sheer Force ability  
> Serious nature, proud of its power  
> Moves:  
> Peck, Leer  
> Fury Attack, Wing Attack
> 
> Mandalay (Mandy)  
> Espeon lvl 11  
> Magic Bounce ability  
> Quiet nature, highly persistent  
> Moves:  
> Confusion, Helping Hand,  
> Baby-doll Eyes, Sand Attack
> 
> Riot  
> Riolu lvl 8  
> Inner Focus ability  
> Jolly nature, impetuous and silly  
> Moves:  
> Foresight, Quick Attack  
> Endure, Counter
> 
> Izuku himself is about 15-16 years old, as will be any UA Students of his year introduced in this and any future fics in this universe. This particular fic will remain Gen but I do ship Todoroki and Izuku so I wouldn't discount that becoming a thing. 
> 
> Bonus points to anyone who guesses a) what Izuku's team's names are based on b) who owns the vulpixes c) the names of the vulpixes!


	2. Happy Happenstances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a meeting occurs and a little bit is revealed.

They were making slow progress going wherever the vulpixes wanted them to go. Every few feet they would pause with the Alolan variant turning to look at him to make sure he was still following. Izuku couldn’t help but wonder if he could handle what they were leading him towards.

The weight of his pokeballs on his belt eased him a little bit. He wasn’t at the level yet that he thought he could take on anything with just his pokemon by his side but they had weathered everything they had faced together so far. He was startled out of his musings by the distant sound of voices. It was hard to determine anything about them yet but the way the vulpixes froze and shivered made him believe that they were the source of their fear.

A couple hypotheses formed in his mind and he hummed mildly, crouching down to their level while maintaining a distance. They could be afraid of their trainer he supposed but that didn’t quite fit why they wanted him to go back with them. They didn’t seem vengeful enough to want someone to call a trainer to task for treating them poorly. Could it be their trainer was in danger and they were seeking help for them? “Hey, your trainer…” He trailed off under the weight of their eyes on him.

A shout from the distant voices broke the moment and the vulpixes let out twin cries in response. The Alolan vulpix shot off in the direction of the shout, joined hesitantly a few seconds later by the Kanto vulpix. “Wait!” Izuku cried, getting to his feet again and giving chase. As he ran the raised voices became clearer and so too did the subject matter.

“Where did you send them, huh you brat!?” A rough, grown male voice snarled.

The responding voice sounded considerably younger, clear and even and bitingly cold. “To get help.”

“ _Pix!_ ”

The pokemon’s cry broke through the brush before the Alolan vulpix was visible – standing in front of its trainer, iced breath misting in front of it - and Izuku eked out a little more speed as the older voice laughed.

“Well look who came back! Looks like sending them away was all for nothing. Isn’t the bond between trainer and pokemon so _amazing_ , _so useful_ ,” the man taunted gleefully. His face fell however as Izuku burst from the treeline in a flurry of leaves, the Kanto vulpix shyly peering out from behind him where it had stopped. “Who the fuck are you?”

Izuku’s eyes darted around the scene quickly, taking in the pale, wide-eyed boy kneeling on the ground with his gaze switching from the vulpixes to Izuku and back rapidly, the tall man standing behind a grimer, and the shuddering vulpix at his heel. “I asked you _who the fuck you are kid?_ ” The man howled again and Izuku flinched.

“I- I just…”

“Just what? Fucking scram or I’ll have Grimer here show you what we did to the other one,” he snapped.

Izuku glanced again at the other boy. He momentarily got caught up in the fact that the other boy had two-toned hair and mismatched eyes and then again by the scar dominating the left side of his face until those eyes met and held his. Izuku read faint curiosity but more than that was a sense of resignation that made Izuku steel his shoulders. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on but at the very least the man with the Grimer seemed to have implied that he had attacked the boy with his pokemon.

“I came to help,” he announced, determination wavering just slightly under the weight of his uncertainty.

The man laughed, “and what is a kid like you gonna be able to do, huh?”

“Mandy! We’re here!” Izuku announced in lieu of an answer. He tossed his espeon’s pokeball into the space between him and the man’s grimer and she emerged already bristling. “Confusion!”

Grimer was a poison type after all and if any of his pokemon stood a chance against another that seemed more skilled than them it would be the one with a type advantage. Light flashed from the gem on Mandy’s forehead and the grimer let out a bubbling squawk to indicate its pain.

“Grimer, disable!”

 _Oh no_ , Izuku thought as the energy of the move rushed towards Mandy. She didn’t have any other attack moves aside from confusion; he could have her stall with throwing sand into the grimer’s eyes but he doubted the battle of attrition that would follow after would be the best thing for the sickly-looking boy being guarded by his vulpix.

Something surprising happened as the disable washed over Mandy though. Her fur glowed faintly and the energy of disable rushed back to the grimer, the move halting so abruptly it was almost like it was the one disabled. Mandy shook herself and glanced back at Izuku for another command as if she had expected all along to be fine from the disable.

“Confusion again,” he called tentatively, uncertain if she really could use it still. She surprised him with another flash going off and the grimer’s trainer yelling in surprise. From there it became a flurry of commands issues to the battling pokemon: sludge bomb, confusion, sludge bomb, and a final confusion as the two pokemon whittled away at each other until the grimer oozed to the ground in defeat.

Its trainer was silent for a beat before he snarled in rage and lunged as if to go after Izuku with his own fists but despite her panting and slight shakiness in her limbs the victorious espeon moved to block the way, gem glinting in the sunlight that spilled through the leaf canopy above them warningly.

“This isn’t fucking over,” the opposing trainer growled as he returned his grimer to its ball and spun on a heel to stomp away through the brush.

Izuku’s legs felt like soft gelatin as he sank to the forest floor in relief. Mandy limped over to him and his hands cupped her face as a few tears began to fall. “You’re okay?” She pressed into his left palm in response and he let out a shaky sigh. “You…you were amazing, thank you, well done.” His gushing was accompanied by his hands fumbling for her pokeball and she made a soft noise in acknowledgement before the red beam engulfed her and she was safely away. He wished he could give her something now but in his rush to follow the pair of vulpix he had left his pack behind at the camp. At least in her ball she wouldn’t have to walk.

A throat clearing caught Izuku’s attention and he brushed the tears from his eyes and face while turning to look at the other boy. He couldn’t have been much different in age than Izuku himself. The scrutinizing pair of eyes that roamed his face seemed years older though which made Izuku sad for some reason. “They were supposed to find Yaoyorozu,” the boy announced. His tone wasn’t quite as frigid as it had been but there was a distinct lack of warmth to it too.

“Who?”

“My travelling companion,” the boy clarified. He paused and shook his head minutely though that seemed to make his brows pinch even more in some form of discomfort. “I am being ungrateful. Thank you for your help.” He moved to stand but his lips thinned and he stopped moving.

“A-are you alright…?” Izuku realized abruptly that he hadn’t asked a name yet and he grew immediately flustered. “Oh my Arceus, I’m so sorry, I don’t know your name and I haven’t introduced myself – not that there was time with that man and the battle and he was _really_ scary – and wow I’m rambling again, sorry, anyway I’m Midoriya Izuku.”

The boy stared at him and Izuku shuffled under the intensity. “Todoroki Shouto. I’m…fine. His grimer used poison gas on me.”

“That’s not fine at all! You need an antidote or a pecha berry or a doc-“

“Midoriya. It’s fine, I have something in my bag,” Todoroki cut him off before Izuku could ramble on again. He had both hands brushing the fur of his vulpixes comfortingly and his gaze was steady enough to settle even Izuku.

“Alright then…um.”

Silence followed Izuku’s fumbling words and he shifted uncomfortably once more. He wasn’t used to interacting with others his own age. His small town didn’t have many to begin with and most of them had gone off on their pokemon journeys at the earliest opportunity while Izuku stayed behind.

Todoroki was not the easiest to talk to either but maybe he was taking pity on Izuku when he said, “I am sorry Soba and Udon disturbed you. I will be more vigilant in the future. To make it up to you I can offer you a meal.”

Izuku’s stomache rumbled embarrassingly in answer to the offer and he laughed self-consciously. Remembering that his own dinner was spilled in the clearing his camp was set up he half-mumbled out a grateful, “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble…”

Todoroki nodded. “I offered.”

“I uh…left my camp in a hurry? And I spilled my food and I don’t want to leave that on the ground for too long or something might eat it and it’s really not all that edible so I’ll just go clean that up and be back,” Izuku explained hastily.

“Don’t bother.” Izuku flinched at that but Todoroki pressed on quickly enough to assuage the sudden doubt that he had miss-stepped. “You go on ahead and I will be there shortly.”

“Oh. That’s really not neces-“

“I haven’t set up camp yet so it is less trouble for me than you. Besides…I owe you a debt for saving these two so let me repay it properly.”

Izuku noticed then that Todoroki’s eyes flicked away and there was a touch of colour on his cheeks. _Is he…?_ He didn’t finish the thought before smiling brightly at the other boy and chirped out a happy, “Okay!”

Todoroki blinked in mild astonishment and while he didn’t quite smile his features softened enough that Izuku felt that it was close enough.

“I’ll uh…see you soon? Yeah. It’s just over there,” he gestured in the direction he came from while he took a couple steps backwards towards it. A final nod from Todoroki and he turned and practically bolted back through the trees.

Soba and Udon watched him go curiously before looking up at their trainer when he let out a quiet, “yeah” in response to the retreating back. They looked at each other and their tails waved briefly in happy surprise.

They had chanced upon someone good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. Dialogue. I honestly hate writing dialogue. It always seems so stiff when I'm responsible for back-and-forth dialogue between characters I'm writing. But if I don't challenge myself to write it I'll never get better at it. On that note if anyone has any dialogue-specific feedback I will always welcome it as long as it is constructive! There may be more to this universe since I had so much fun writing this little piece. Let me know if y'all would be interested in seeing more and if you have any ideas and/or requests for situations! 
> 
> Todoroki's team:  
> Soba  
> Alola Vulpix   
> 12  
> Bashful  
> Strong willed  
> Snow Warning  
> Powder Snow, Roar, Baby-doll Eyes, Hypnosis
> 
> Udon  
> Vulpix  
> 12  
> Timid  
> Alert to sounds  
> Drought  
> Heat Wave, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Confuse Ray


End file.
